A wide variety of plastic (polymeric) articles may be made using a thermoforming method and apparatus. A typical thermoforming process performs a series of operations on a heat formable sheet of polymeric material. Typically, thermoplastics are used as is well known in the art. The formation operations include feeding material to the forming press, heating the material, pressure forming the material into article precursors, trimming the excess material connecting the articles, and stacking the formed and separated articles. The molding material feed/unwind station of a typical thermoform machine provides a sheet of material to the machine. This can be accomplished by either unwinding material from a continuous roll of polymeric material or by feeding individual sheets of polymeric material into the machine. Once the material enters the machine, the material travels to a heating station where it is heated to its forming temperature above its glass transition phase temperature, and below its melting temperature, as is known as the art. The heated material is then moved into a forming station where it undergoes a forming operation. The material may be heated at the forming station if desired. During the forming operation the heated polymeric material is formed into specific shapes using force. Force may be applied through a pressure differential, such as vacuum (a subatmospheric pressure) applied to one surface or a high air pressure (an above atmospheric pressure) applied to another surface or a combination of both and/or by pressure forming the parts using male/female mold portions mounted to upper and lower press platens. The material may be formed by being captured between the male and female portions with the female portion of the mold moving onto the male portion of the mold to pressure form the article precursors. The end result of the process is the production of one molded article or an array of molded articles formed from the sheet material. Typically, an array of articles is formed. The molded article precursors are then moved to a trimming station where one or more of a variety of cutting methods and means such as steel rule and forged die may be employed to remove the surrounding support area around the thermoformed article precursor to form the articles. Typically, a web of excess material is formed between the various article precursors which web is cut free and removed. The scrap material may then be removed and saved for potential recycling. Such a process is disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 10/605,856 filed Oct. 31, 2003 entitled “Robotic Method And Apparatus For Removing Parts From The trim Press Of A Thermoforming System” which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
A typical trim station cuts the thermoformed array free from the web of interstitial material with the exception of a few small areas known in the art as “nicks.” These “nicks” hold the various parts in the sheet for transportation out of the trim press and to a stacker station that breaks these molded parts free from the web and presents them in stacks for removal. There are two common methods employed by stackers namely, upstacking and downstacking. Upstacking is accomplished using a vertically driven tool that cycles up and down freeing the mold apart from the web of material and stacking them above the web in the process. Many of the formed parts or articles are useable either as components of other articles, as the article itself or as packaging components for packaging for articles.
There is a trend toward the use of ID tags such as radio frequency identification tags (RFID) as a component part of consumer products. These devices can be “scanned” at a retail outlet to identify the product and to provide a signal that will allow checkout equipment to know what product is being scanned and determine its price. The price can then be printed on a sales slip. The price of one product is used in combination with other product prices to determine the total bill. Inventory control can also be accomplished using an ID tag. Some retailers are mandating the use of RFIDs to replace the UPC barcode. RFIDs tend to be small and will likely become much smaller in time. The incorporation of RFIDs into the product or the product packaging in a simple manner is becoming important. However, cost of the installation of an ID tag into a package or an article is of the utmost importance since many retailers may shortly not accept a product without an ID tag as they will not accept a product today without UPC barcode. Many products are very inexpensive and of low margin so added cost is a problem. The ID tag should be attached in a manner that it will not be accidentally separated from the package or article and in essence become an integral part of the article or package in an inexpensive and reliable manner.